If you are craving those legendary thick, gooey cookies from New York’s famous Levain Bakery, I got you! This is the ultimate Levain Bakery copycat recipe because they taste and look EXACTLY like the original. While their original Coffee Toffee Cookie remains a closely guarded secret, this copycat recipe brings you impossibly close to the real thing. These cookies feature a perfect balance of rich coffee flavor, buttery toffee bits, and that signature crispy-outside, gooey-inside texture that made Levain famous.
How do I make a Levain-style cookie?
The magic of Levain-style cookies lies in their unique characteristics: massive size (6 ounces each), barely-baked centers, and crispy exteriors. My version incorporates premium instant espresso powder and high-quality toffee bits to recreate their beloved coffee toffee variation. The result? A cookie that’s crisp on the outside, with an almost cake-like interior that melts in your mouth.
What ingredients do I need for the coffee toffee cookie?
- All purpose flour
- BLACK cocoa powder
- Instant Espresso Powder
- Eggs
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Milk Chocolate
- Toffee (you can use homemade or store-bought toffee but I actually tested both versions and prefer the Heath toffee version as it keeps its structure inside cookie)
The Secret to Perfect Levain-Style Cookies
- Don’t over bake! Cookies should look slightly underdone when removed from the oven. Yes, they are technically a little bit raw but that is the style!
- Space cookies at least 5 inches apart as they will spread while they bake
- For extra coffee flavor, add an extra tablespoon of instant espresso!
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Why This Recipe Works
The combination of instant espresso powder and dark cocoa creates deep, rich coffee notes that perfectly complement the buttery toffee pieces. I know it seems odd to bake cookies at such a high baking temperature but I promise that this ensures a crispy exterior while maintaining a gooey center. Whether you’re miles away from the original Levain Bakery or just want to recreate their magic at home, these copycat coffee toffee cookies will satisfy your craving. With their enormous size, perfect texture, and rich coffee-toffee flavor, they’re sure to become a new favorite in your recipe collection.
Looking for more copycat recipes? Check out our other posts featuring famous bakery favorites like this Gideon’s Bakehouse copycat recipe!
Equipment
- 1 Standmixer
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 375 grams
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon BLACK cocoa powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temp, 226 grams
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar 200 grams
- ½ cup granulated white sugar 100 grams
- 3 tbsp instant espresso powder
- 2 large eggs
- 4 oz chopped milk chocolate bar
- 8 ounces of chopped toffee bars I used heath, you can use homemade toffee but the cookies will be flatter
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) mix together with a whisk or fork to combine and set aside
- In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter, brown sugar and white sugar.
- Mix together on medium speed for about 5 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy, pausing halfway through to scrape the sides of the bowl with a nonstick spatula.
- Add in the the espresso powder and the eggs r-the moisture from the eggs will help the granules dissolve. Mix again on medium speed, making sure to pause the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
- Add in the dry ingredients AND the chopped chocolate + chopped toffee and mix until thick dough forms. Adding these all together will help disperse the chocolate and toffee throughout the cookie!
- Cover the dough with saran wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour
- Scoop dough into 6 oz sized balls (alternatively, you can scoop into 4 oz size balls if you wish for a slightly smaller cookie)
- Preheat the oven to 415 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
- Bake cookies, leaving at least 5 inches in between them, for 10 minutes. Top with extra pieces of chopped toffee and flakey salt!
Getting ready to make these but was hoping for clarification on two things. First, I was surprised to see baking soda paired with black cocoa (as it’s dutched); any reason you chose that over powder? And second, can you add context as to why homemade toffee will alter the rise? I made a bunch for another cookie and would love to use the rest in here.
Hi there! Ok, I have a bit of a long answer to your questions but touching on it below.
1. You’re right that black cocoa is Dutch-processed and therefore not acidic, so on paper it doesn’t require baking soda. In this recipe, the baking soda isn’t there to neutralize the cocoa. It’s doing a few other jobs: it raises the dough’s pH slightly, which encourages better browning, and it promotes a bit more spread and tenderness. Yes, baking powder would give lift, but it is simply a preference I had when developing for the spread and browning effect from the soda here.
2. Homemade toffee can behaves differently from store-bought in cookies. Because it doesn’t contain stabilizers or additives, it melts more readily in the oven. As it melts, it effectively releases fat and sugar into the dough, which encourages spread. The store-bought toffee tends to hold its shape longer, acting more like a solid inclusion that slightly limit. Basically, the store-bought toffee can act as a physical impediment to spread. So yes, you can definitely use your homemade toffee, just expect a slightly thinner, more spread cookie. Still delicious!!
Thanks so much for the questions! I hope this helped clarify. Let me know if you make them
Just made these and they came out great! Just a suggestion – it would be amazing if the ingredients were listed in the order they were used, I added the espresso powder to the dry (my fault for not reading all the way through)
Absolutely! So sorry for that oversight on my end. I fixed the order and instructions here to make sure that is clear. Thank you so much for the feedback!
I just made these! So so delicious! I changed it up by making them 1oz each and changing bake to 12 min at 350 and it worked perfect. So so yummy. Will make again!
(These and your tartine gingerbread cookies are going in my cookie box this year!)
Hi! Can I make the dough and chill in fridge for a few days or is better to freeze the scooped dough?
Recipe is great! The taste is amazing. They did come out a little too underdone in the center for my liking. So next time I might change temp to 400 and bake for longer. I’ll definitely be making again
Hey Lily,
Huge fan, I use loads of your recipes as inspiration and starting points for my creations. Thank you for all of your production!
Hey, just a heads up that you missed the vanilla in the recipe. I was lucky to catch that.
They came out great. I did some with PB chips and fuuuuuvck they were so good.
Also I doubled the recipe but kept the same 3Tbsp (added a bit more) and I feel they came out as balanced as could possibly be. Anymore and you’d lose some of the chocolate love to the coffee ☕️.
Thanks again. I hope to connect one day. You’ve been an inspiration, and it’s helped lead to my dream.